Hi,
My friend sold a property recently. It was a flat in a building of 6 flats. Most of the properties in the building were owned by the local council.
Before the sale the council changed the roof of the entire building and sent my friend a bill for his share of around £5K. He could not afford it as he had to sell the property on a loss, so he negotiated with the council to pay each month £100 each.
He is paying it on a monthly basis. How does he declare this cost in the Self-Assessment, is it the £100 as a monthly maintenance cost?
Thanks
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According to PIM3000 “ The taxpayer can deduct from post-cessation receipts expenses that would have been allowable had the business continued, for example, the cost of background heating for empty premises to keep down condensation and so maintain the value of the property for later sale. This is under section 351 ITTOIA05, which applies sections 254, 255 and 257 ITTOIA05 to property businesses.”, so my approach would be to carry on claiming the costs under SA, but I would ask HMRC helpline.
Sorry this doesn’t work does it as he has no rent to offset it against and he can’t claim property expenses against non property income.
Anyone got other suggestions?
If he’s already sold it, then he has no business to offset the maintenance costs against.
Did he have a business he operated out of the flat when he owned it, otherwise why is he declaring on self-assessment?
I presume also, if he sold at a loss, he would have no liability for CGT.
He would have been declaring the rental income and expenses via SA.